G’bye Sir Alex, the man who made chewing gum cool

David

5 years ago

I grew up with the notion that the chewing of gum was such an irresponsible act. In fact my Mama and some of my early school teachers were sure it was the pastime of scarlet ladies and motor-park boys. So it was an abomination both at school and at home (Aside: it is also outlawed in my house today). But Sir Alex Ferguson, the wizard of Old Trafford proved my Mama and teachers wrong on this matter of chewing gum. Ferguson (you must know him of course unless you are one of those who think football is the grand folly of 22 grown men chasing one round leather object all over the field for 90 minutes in which case you should not read this piece), probably the most loved man on earth today after Mandela of course, reigned at the Manchester United Football Club (MUFC) for 26 years. He retires this month at the age of 71.

Fergie as he is called, is always beamed to the entire world (yes, that is almost not an exaggeration, almost the whole world view Man. U matches) chewing furiously at his gum as if that is the talisman to win matches. The more intense the game, the more furious his jaws hammer at the gum and the redder his face gets. If you consider that this rather iconic image must have been seen by viewers nearly 1500 times, the number of matches he handled at MUFC, then you would understand why this singular quirk of his character caught my interest. So if Fergie, one of the greatest men alive today chewed gum for the whole world to see then what was Mama and my teachers talking about, chewing gum must be cool. Riding on Fergie’s validation, I found myself chewing gum especially on long drives and dreary office days (never at home yet). And I have found that it is an extremely jaw-hurting exercise. In just few minutes my jaws would ache and the impulse to spit out the damn thing would be stronger than any joy derived from chewing it. Even as I write this, I am chewing Wrigley’s Extra Long Lasting Flavour SPEARMINT and all I wish is to spit it out.

If I had Fergie to interview that would be my first question: How do you manage sir, chewing hard for 90 minutes; is it that you have a metal jaw or you have a specially customized soft chewing gum (come to think of it, why haven’t the Chinese given us Fergie Gum?)? I am not a Man U fan, in fact I will first watch an Arsenal match before any of Man U’s but his gum chewing kind of won me his admiration and I wager that it says something about his personality, character and confounding success in the round leather game called football.

The genius of Sir Alex Ferguson can be said to have thrived on his hardy singlemindedness , that rare knack to drive oneself remorselessly to the peak of one’s performance each time and every time one has a task at hand and achieve the result one needed; the ability to absorb pain without wavering, the discipline of a great marathoner and the eye for sighting great football talent from miles away. There is also the fitness factor, each time I see Fergie on tv lately, I often wonder how this 71-year-old still carries on with coaching in this very physical game of football. Though he started slowly at MUFC when he arrived in 1986, in less than five years, he perfected his techniques; he soon mastered the game, conquered his club and ruled over the football world. He retires today sitting atop a footballing empire that has 659 million followers worldwide and was worth $2.3 billion upon its listing at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) recently.

It is a mark of Fergie’s strong personality that over 26 years, he groomed some of the biggest football star of our time yet he suffered no significant star trouble. Eric Cantona, Andy Cole, Roy Keane, David Beckham, Ruud Van Nestlerooy, Edwin Van Der Sar, Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and many more, were his protégés at some point in his long Man. U life. He is at once a coach, a father and a taskmaster to the boys. He is said to love them as much as he would lay it thick on them bringing up the fabled ‘Fergie freeze’. He was in charge and would brook no messing around from any player, especially a ‘swollen-headed’ type. He is said to cold-bloodedly freeze out any player who begins to get too big for his boots whereupon the player would choose to either shape up or ship out. A certain Van Nestlerooy was a goal machine for MUFC with a glorious career ahead of him. He was said to have got big-headed and Fergie froze him up leading to his premature exit from Old Trafford and unfortunately, a less -than illustrious career.

While the big European clubs changed coaches like undies (7 big clubs changed 116 coaches in 26 years), Fergie sat put at MUFC garnering silverware with the appetite of a glutton. Apart from his fabled love for choice red wines, which some would consider a ‘good’ vice, Fergie is clearly a straight guy, and a family man who stuck to his wife of over 40 years, Cathy, whom he said was the key figure throughout his career “providing a bedrock of both stability and encouragement”. Apart from his legendary mind games before big matches, he never sought undue publicity. I do not remember any scandal, ill report or unprofessional conduct about him. He seems such a stable and principled character.

So much to say about Fergie and I am sure books have been written about him. His untrammeled successes never got to him, in fact he seemed to live far above his trophies untouched, unperturbed to the point that he became the ultimate trophy of MUFC. And I want to close by saying that apart from making chewing gum cool, he made football cool, he made success cool, indeed, he is such a cool fellow. That is the ultimate lesson we must learn from Sir Alex Ferguson.

LAST MUG: Adieu Pini Jason: Anyone who loves good, well-written, well-reasoned public commentary would know Pini Jason and would love his writings. Pini, as we all called him who probably kept one of the longest running columns in the Vanguard newspaper passed on last Saturday. Apart from being one of the long-standing fans of his page our paths crossed from 2007 to 2011 while we were on a call of duty to Imo State. He was Special Adviser on Special Duties while I was Chief Press Secretary to the then Governor Ikedi Ohakim. Ogam, as I called him, we worked quite closely in a number of committees and on projects and just as he showcased in his writings, he was a man of high convictions. He was forthright and had clear opinion on any matter; extremely brilliant, he didn’t suffer fools gladly. Nigeria journalism has lost a master. Gaa nke oma, Ogam.